The Guardians' Secret Ingredient: A Sequel
by CrushedShattered
Summary: Set after my other fanfiction A Lucian's Sick Entertainment. The Vespers are planning their scheme, Michele doesn't know what to do with her new status as a Guardian,and the other Cahills have their own problems to deal with. Chaos is everywhere, but one thing is clear: The side that finds out what the Guardians' secret ingredient is first will hold a major card in this fatal game.
1. Chapter 1 Planning

**Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues.**

**A\N: This fanfiction is a sequel to my other fanfiction A Lucian's Sick Entertainment, which is set after A King's Ransom. **

**My OC Michele Wang is in this fic, and she is one of the main characters again, so… XD**

**This fic is mainly about my idea of what the Guardians do; I hope it'll be interesting to read. :) **

Chapter 1 Planning

Vesper Two entered Vesper One's office again, the room seemed darker than last time.

Vesper Three was also there.

She glanced at the teenage boy and sat in one of the chairs, and then waited for Vesper One to begin.

"Now we know that Michele Wang is a Guardian, and she has the secret ingredient, or knows what it is." Vesper One stated after a moment of silence had passed. He turned to Vesper Three.

"Did you get any more information out of your 'brother' before he was kidnapped?"

Vesper Three shook his head. "It seems that he only remembers some of the things about what happened just before Astrid Rosenbloom died, and of course, what I reported last time."

Vesper Two couldn't help feeling irritated and slightly insulted. She was Vesper Two, and the teenager was Vesper Three, but Vesper Three had much more information than her on this matter. And it was, as Vesper One had hinted, well enough for her to be invited to this meeting.

"From all we know, the Guardians aren't our best friends. Any suggestions on what we should do with the girl?"

Vesper Two knew that Vesper One already had a plan, this was just one of his ideas of fun.

This did seem to be a complicated matter. This Guardian was also a Lucian― a Cahill. But by what Vesper Three had reported, Michele Wang had just gotten herself in a verbal conflict with Amy Cahill which involved numerous threats a few days ago. She had also been a Vesper in training before, which was a rare thing among the Vespers. And what was more, Michele shouldn't have survived the explosion eight years ago…

She stopped herself from thinking more about it. She shook her head slightly at Vesper One and listened intently as he began to speak.

"We won't be able to do it by force, and she isn't to be afraid of threats." Vesper One said. "We'll have to do it by trickery, or other extreme means."

He turned to Vesper Two.

"Follow her and when the time is right, bring her to stronghold 6. I'll leave everything before that time to you. And I hope the dodging lessons and practices have helped."

Vesper Two didn't give a response to that.

Vesper One then nodded to Vesper Three.

"You've done a fine job with those Cahills. Keep it up. And I wouldn't mind if you become Amy's boyfriend."  
Vesper Three managed a nod.

Vesper One turned back to Vesper Two.

"That Guardian is a difficult one. Make sure that you plan everything correctly. It wouldn't be a help to us if she decided to commit suicide."

Vesper Two nodded and allowed herself to smirk. She had already thought of a plan.

\

Michele sighed as she studied the jade pendant.

It was made out of ordinary high-quality jade and had possibly been purchased at some ordinary jewelry store. It was an ordinary jade pendant that any Chinese child would wear. The only thing unordinary about it was the carving on one side of the pendant― a cursive capital G.

That 'G' stood for the Guardians, a group that Michele knew almost nothing about.

Another Guardian had been kidnapped by the Vespers a few weeks ago. A Lucian had been kidnapped by the Vespers a few days ago.

She was a Guardian, also a Lucian.

She rang a finger over the rough and uneven surface of the jade pendant, the side the capital G was engraved on.

It had been 36 hours since she'd found out so much: The secret of the jade pendant, the real reason why her parents had been kidnapped by the Vespers. And that she, like her parents, was a Guardian.

She didn't know what to do now. She hadn't even started on her third draft even though it was due next week.

The Vespers knew that she was a Guardian, and that meant they would try to do something to her sooner or later, though why they hadn't tried to do anything for the past seven years puzzled her.

And they didn't actually try to capture her when she'd broken into that Vesper stronghold a few days ago.

Should she tell the other Cahills about this? It would be extremely hard and awkward after threatening the leader of the Madrigal branch like that.

The Guardians were obviously not best friends with the Vespers, and a Guardian had already been kidnapped by them.

She didn't know if she wanted to know more about this or not. She could destroy the jade pendant and pretend that nothing had happened.

But the Vespers knew. And so did the Guardians, if they still existed.

That meant hiding. It would mean doing what she'd done before, but this time it would be slightly different.

It meant traveling with only a backpack and her laptop. But at least she had money this time.

It would mean that she would have no time to write any novels for a while. And she would live a Cahill way of life.

But she would be able to handle it better than last time. And this time she knew what she was doing.

She had an idea of where she would go to this time. She needed to know more about her parents.

Picking up her phone she called her editor, and after some waiting he answered.

"Mr. Johnson?" She said as she started her computer. "I'd like to postpone the deadline of that third draft to next month. I hope you don't mind. I…have some urgent family matters to attend to now."

\

Guardian Number 100, or G-100, was in his office. His friend and colleague, G-90, was also there.

The two Guardians both had headphones over their ears. And both were listening carefully to the conversation between Michele Wang and her editor.

Finally they both pushed the headphones back at the same time.

"Michele is going to do it." G-100 told G-90. "She's putting down her novel for it, which means that she has decided to…" He sighed and shook his head.

"We should've helped her." His friend told him. "Hacking into her phone every time only tells us a little about her current state. She knows now, and that'll be risky. She did survive, yes, but at what cost? It doesn't mean that she wasn't affected."  
G-100 shook his head. "It was necessary for us to test her abilities. And having her take on even half the amount of the responsibilities of G-96 at such a young age would do worse to her."

"At least we could've protected her."

G-100 touched the chain of his necklace, and then took the pendant hanging from the chain out from under his jacket.

It was made out of agate, and on one side there was carved a cursive G― the symbol of the Guardians.

"She had to recover, and how could we explain to an eight-year-old about why her parents were killed?" He muttered as he fingered the pendant. "She wouldn't have made it here. She needed to train, and be a bit older before she got really tangled into this. I would've waited until she was eighteen, but the Vespers aren't waiting."

He let go of the agate pendant and thought of that weighty piece of knowledge he knew. The simple knowledge of something that could…

"I have an idea of where she's planning to go to." He said to G-90. "Keep an eye on her, the Vespers know now. The Cahills don't know yet, but they'll have to get informed soon."

G-90 nodded. "I'll tell G-79 to do that. Should G-56 inform the Cahills, or G-62?"

G-100 thought for a moment. "You'd better tag Michele." He decided. "And G-62 will take care of the informing. This isn't just some minor issue that we can assign to less-experienced Guardians for them to get experience with. This will decide, as they say, the fate of the world."

G-90 took out his pendant, which was made out of amber. "G-84 is still being held by the Vespers. That means we have only 98 Guardians here. I've always had something against a child of a Guardian inheriting a Guardianship form his or her parent. The tradition promises the number of Guardians, but there are lots of disadvantages in it. I've always liked the Madrigal way."

G-100 smiled grimly at his friend. "Of course… I've never wanted to be G-100. No one would volunteer to become a Guardian. But like Madrigals, we have to prove our worth before joining the Guardians officially."

"If G-84 can escape form the Vespers I'll give him his pendant and let him figure it out on his own. Tell G-76 to keep an eye on him, will you? If he fails we'll have to give that Guardianship to some other child of a Guardian."  
G-90 gave a faint smile. "If that child's parent is a Guardian with a lower number, I'd say that the child was really lucky. And if the current G-84 refuses?"

G-100 smiled grimly. "That's why the Guardians have that tradition."

"But Michele…"

G-100 closed his eyes for a moment as he remembered what his father had said to him fifteen years ago, and then he turned to face his friend with an even grimmer look on his face. "It's risky, but she just might make it."


	2. Chapter 2 In the comm center

**A\N: By the way, Sinead isn't the Vesper mole in this fic.**

Chapter 2 In the comm. center

Ian was doing his best to stand all the hate, anger, and resentment directed at him.

Now Sinead was getting more and more paranoid, and was ignoring Ian almost completely. Evan was doing the same as Sinead, and now Amy and Dan had figured out that there was a Vesper mole among them. Somehow, everyone came to the conclusion that he was the mole, even though that was absolutely illogical.

Now Sinead had entered the comm. center. Without even attempting to hide her suspicion and disapproval she looked over Ian's shoulder to see what was on his computer screen.

"Can't you at least be helpful even if you're the mole?" Sinead snapped at him, probably because Ian wasn't done with his task of analyzing a list of companies and locations. "If not for _Michele…_"

This time Ian couldn't stand it anymore. He could stand everyone calling him the Vesper mole― they would eventually find out that he was innocent, anyways. He could even tolerate the fact that the Cahills were only letting him stay here because of Michele Wang, the former Vesper, Lucian who'd saved Ian's life, and then forced Amy Cahill to let Ian stay at the comm. center by threatening to create a few nasty explosions if she didn't. And now the contempt and disgust Sinead was showing towards him and Michele was just too much.

"As I've said many times before, I'm not the Vesper mole." He said to Sinead, struggling to keep himself calm. "And you really don't have to let me stay here. Michele wouldn't even care to blow up this place."

It felt good to say that, but then he remembered what Michele had advised him during their trip back to Attleboro: _Remember to play nice with the Cahills._

Perhaps he wasn't exactly doing that now.

"Fine!" Sinead snapped. "Get out of here now, please! And stop trying to defend Michele. I'll enjoy being here with only Evan and _Saladin_. Just go and have your date with Michele Wang!"

Ian realized that this was why it was necessary to play nice: the Cahills got mad and offensive when others became rude.

Everything that Sinead had just said was offending, especially the last sentence.

"Sure." He growled as he got up from his chair. "I hope you and Evan will make some real progress."  
"Ian Kabra, I can't believe you did this to your own sister!" Sinead yelled at Ian as he stormed out of the room. "Fine, go! It'll be much better here when you're gone!"

Ian was almost out of the door, and hesitated slightly when he thought of Natalie. But then he decided that he would save Natalie by himself.

He stormed down the stairs, nearly running into Evan, who was holding a cup of coffee. Evan was so surprised by their encounter that he accidentally spilled coffee onto his shirt. Ian heard a yelp and some shouting from Evan as he pushed past him and cut through the kitchen to the guesthouse in the back. Thankfully, he didn't meet Saladin on the way.

Ian went to his room and opened the door. It was time to pack.

\

Sinead sighed and took a deep breath. She had to admit that she'd really lost her temper with Ian just then. She didn't even know why she'd said those mean things to him.

She was indeed angry at Ian. After all, he'd left to go to see his mother, and had lied to them about his destination. And because he'd been kidnapped, Michele Wang had gone to rescue him. Because of that Michele had given up her place in the comm. center to secure Ian's place here.

Sinead looked around the room, and her gaze rested on the organized cabinets and drawers. Michele had done a nice job with it all when she was helping out here. Sinead hated to admit it, but she'd actually enjoyed her experience with Michele at the beginning, before Ian had gotten kidnapped. Or at least she didn't find it unpleasant. Ian, Evan, Jonah, and Hamilton… They were all boys, and Amy was too busy with finding the items the Vespers wanted to talk with Sinead often. It had felt comfortable to have another person with the same gender as herself in the comm. center.

Even though Sinead didn't want to think about Erasmus now, she still remembered what he'd told her about Michele: the explosion at the Vesper stronghold and everything. Now that made Sinead feel a lot more sympathetic towards Michele. After all, Sinead had also suffered greatly from an explosion that was definitely not an accident. Most likely, Michele had also received some form of serious injury, just like Sinead.

Evan appeared at the doorway, holding a cup of coffee. Most of the coffee had been spilled onto his shirt, and he hadn't bothered to clean it off yet.

"What happened?" He asked as he set down his cup. "I heard some yelling up here and Ian came storming down the stairs and nearly knocked me over." He took a tissue and used it to clean the coffee off his shirt.

Sinead nodded. "I sort of snapped. And then he got all fired up and we shouted at each other. It was mostly about Michele Wang and the Vesper mole. I know we don't have proof that Ian is the Vesper mole, but everything fit perfectly for him."

"Speaking of the Vesper mole," Evan said as he started one of the computers, "I've just found something you'd like to know. I was just going to tell you."

"I made a list of possible Vesper moles." Evan said as he clicked on a program. "The Vesper mole might even be someone we don't know very well. No offense, Sinead, but any of us could be the mole, even you or me."

Evan got up to let Sinead have a look at the list of potentials the Vesper mole would need. And to her surprise the description fit her almost perfectly. It was the same for Jonah, Evan, Hamilton, or almost anybody else.

Slowly she turned to Evan. "I think we may have really wronged Ian." She groaned. "And now he's going to leave the comm. center and do who-knows-what!"

"You mean he's really going to leave?" Evan asked, surprised. "That's not good, Sinead. He might turn to the Vespers for help because of his mother and actually become a Vesper. And it isn't safe for him out there."

"He'll be safe with Michele." Sinead muttered.

"We don't even know where Michele is right now." Evan told her. "I've been keeping tabs on her, just in case something happens. A few days ago they said she left her apartment in the Lucian residence she was staying in. She had filed a notice to the manager― or whatever you call the person who manages a residence― that she'd be gone for at least a month."

"It might be a book tour." Sinead suggested, though she had a feeling that it wouldn't be. "But, yeah, I really shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Do you think I should go and apologize to Ian now, or should I wait for a while until he cools off?"

"You should definitely do it now." Evan told her seriously. "I'm afraid that Ian won't be here any more after a while."

Sinead nodded. "Then I'd better go now. Thanks, Evan, for telling me that."

"I could go with you if you want." Evan offered.

Sinead thought about that for a moment. It would be safer if Evan came, but she had caused this argument, and it was her job to fix everything.

"Thanks, but I'll go by myself." She decided. "I'll alert you with my phone if things get out of hand, but let's hope that won't happen."  
She went out of the comm. center to the guesthouse.

\

Ian stuffed his Italian hand-painted ties into a small space inside his suitcase. There really wasn't much to take, and he would be leaving in five minutes.

It would be so easy to walk from this place, to go back to the Kabra mansion or the Lucian headquarters. Surely he'd be able to find Natalie.

Someone knocked on his door. Ian guessed it was either Sinead or Evan, or both of them. Probably they'd come to stop him from leaving. Maybe they wanted to keep him as hostage because they thought he was really the Vesper mole. He didn't answer.

"Ian?" It was Sinead. "I want to talk to you."

Ian hesitated. He could easily jump out of the window of his room and escape, but he was curious.

Cautiously he opened the door and found Sinead standing there. She wasn't holding any weapons.

"What do you want?" Ian demanded, preparing himself. "If you want to―"

"Ian, I'm really sorry." Sinead blurted out before Ian could continue. "I didn't know that the Vesper mole could be anyone until now. And I really didn't mean what I said to you just then. Can you forgive me?"

Ian didn't know what to say. Sinead had accused him of being the Vesper mole for quite a few days. And now she'd come to apologize, probably because she'd just realized that Ian was actually going to leave."

What should he say?

"What made you change your mind so quickly?" He asked.

"Evan just told me." Sinead told him, and Ian sensed that she was genuinely sorry. "Ian, please… I'm so sorry, but stay here in the comm. center, okay? You have to…"

Ian sighed, and against his better judgment, he agreed.

He didn't want them to have an even worse opinion of him, and leaving would mean that he could be the Vesper mole, and it would be bad for Natalie.

"I don't have to do anything." He muttered. "But I'll stay."

Sinead gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

Ian nodded to her. There would be lots of work to do in the comm. center.


End file.
